


Music in the Night

by kaeorin



Series: Loki's Lullabies [24]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Lullabies, Music, Nighttime, Piano, Reader-Insert, Singing, Sneaking Around, Stark Tower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23727889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin
Summary: Sometimes at night, you hear music coming from somewhere in the Tower. When you go to investigate, the source surprises you.
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Reader
Series: Loki's Lullabies [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678240
Comments: 20
Kudos: 227





	Music in the Night

At night, sometimes, when everyone in the Tower had gone to sleep and the quiet fell in around you like a blanket, you heard music. 

It didn’t sound like it came from a radio. It definitely didn’t sound like it came from the speakers of anyone’s phone. At first, you told yourself that it might be coming from Tony’s lab, except it clearly wasn’t classic rock, so that was out. It was hard to place exactly what it reminded you of. The only thing you could call to mind whenever you heard it was a shadowed path into a misty woods, where perhaps some type of fae was playing in hopes of luring in an unsuspecting human.

With that in mind, maybe it was silly for you to slide out of bed one night and go in search of the source. There had been many nights where you’d just laid there, listening, and allowed the music to lull you to sleep. But your mind was racing anyway, and you knew that even a sleeping spell couldn’t get you to sleep tonight, so why not go investigate?

You padded through the halls of the Tower, listening carefully for any clues. When you heard the music start to drift away, you turned and went back the way you’d come. Slowly, you began to triangulate the source of the sound. It was a floor below your own, almost-but-not-quite directly beneath your room. The music was louder here, but it didn’t get much easier to place. As you wandered the halls, you had to laugh. You imagined all those horror movies where someone hears something and wanders around in their pajamas to find out what was going on, rather than staying safely in their bed. But this was the Tower. Tony’s security system was state-of-the-art. There probably wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster hiding behind a door somewhere.

The song that continued to ring out was unfamiliar to you, not that you had any kind of extensive knowledge of music. It was slow, like something sad, but didn’t sound grim like a funeral dirge. There was something lilting about the tune: it rose and fell in measured waves, which gave it the strange illusion of something breathing. It sounded kind of...unearthly. And yet it was also incredibly beautiful. Maybe it was the melody itself which had pulled you from your bed, something soft and plaintive. 

You hovered just outside the doors in the hall, pressing your ear close to them so you could listen for the song. This part of the floor wasn’t really used for much, so most of the rooms were empty and more or less abandoned. You couldn’t help but feel more and more like someone in one of those movies, and maybe your heart beat a little bit faster as you began to expect some kind of ghost to pop out at you from a dark corner. Honestly, it kind of made you want to roll your eyes at yourself. You were an Avenger who was afraid of ghost stories.

There. When you pressed your ear to another door, the sound of the music changed somewhat. It was coming from just inside that room. Your hand hovered just above the knob. Opening the door would take away most of the mystery, but it could potentially raise new questions. Who was playing that music? Where had they learned? Why did they play it at night when everyone else was sleeping?

The song rose to a crescendo, a chase through a dark woods, howling wind and snapping jaws. It was now or never. You gripped the door knob and quietly pushed it open. The music surrounded you. There was a piano in the center of the room, and someone sat over the keys, arms moving wildly as he played.

It was Loki. You recognized his hair and the way it tumbled down around his shoulders. Though he wore what were clearly pajamas—a dark hoodie and flannel pajama pants, oddly...human—something about the way he sat and played made it seem as though he were wearing a full tuxedo. You pressed your hand to your mouth to keep from making a sound. The frenzied chase began to ease back a little, until the room was filled only with a string of thin, clear notes, like an autumn leaf drifting to the ground. When he finished playing, some small part of you wanted to applaud for him, but you held back, unwilling to break the silence.

“It is rude to eavesdrop.” His voice traveled perfectly to your ears, despite the fact that he did not even turn around to look at you. He sounded cold; embarrassed, maybe?

“I know. I’m sorry.” You missed the way his hands twitched against the keys at the sound of your voice, but you did see how wide his eyes were when you finally stepped closer to him. “I’m sorry. It’s just...I was in bed and I heard the music and I had to know where it was coming from.”

“Well. You’ve found me.” He lifted his hands, almost like a shrug, and reached out to drag an elegant finger along the edge of the bit that held sheet music. There was no music before him, though, and it made you realize with a start that he’d been playing all that from memory. “I thought you were my brother. If I’d known it was you...” He trailed off and looked away. Silence stretched between you as he apparently searched for a way to finish that sentence. When he couldn’t find it, he lifted his chin and gave you a smile that was a bit wider than before. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”

“No! I’m glad you did! You play beautifully!” You stepped forward despite yourself and reached out as though to take his hands in yours. Thankfully, you stopped yourself before you could actually touch him. You liked him a lot. Too much. It was a little embarrassing, but you took comfort in the fact that he’d likely never thought of you like that, and therefore probably hadn’t noticed the way you looked at him. Still, it wasn’t wise for you to start touching him without permission. He’d surely catch on.

He was the first to look away, directing his attention back to the keys. “Music was important to my mother. She taught me magic, and she taught me music.” He played a few more notes, and even the haphazard, random way he played them sounded wonderful. “Thor would often break into our lessons and spoil them.”

And that would explain the chill in his voice before he’d realized it was you, and not Thor, who had broken in on his solitude. But you’d still spoiled it, hadn’t you? When he realized he wasn’t alone? Loki was incredibly tolerant of you, and let you get away with doing and saying things to him that would earn anyone else—even Thor—a withering glare as he stalked away, but he hadn’t meant to play for an audience. You swallowed hard and took a few quick steps backward. “I’m so sorry,” you mumbled under your breath. “Have a good night, okay? And please don’t stop playing? You’re beautiful.”

Your flubbed words only hastened you on your way to the door, but, before you could leave, Loki blocked your path. He held his hands up and out again, this time placating. He didn’t want you to run off? “I didn’t mean it like that. You can stay. _You_ don’t spoil anything.” His eyes squinted a bit, almost like a cringe, but he didn’t back down.

You weren’t so sure. This was clearly something meaningful for him, something private. Surely he was only saying these things to you because he didn’t want to hurt your delicate mortal feelings. As much as you would have liked to be the kind of person who could laugh warmly and promise him that you understood before retreating to the safety of your room, you weren’t. “I can stay?”

“If you’d like.” He held your gaze long enough for you to feel reasonably certain that he meant it, but then looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. “You don’t have to. Just...if you do, I’ll play for you.”

“Okay.” Something surged in you, something like hope or relief, and he smiled before turning back to the piano. When he sat on the bench, he left enough space for you on one side, and gestured for you to sit. You swallowed your heartbeat and joined him. Without so much as looking at you, he began to play another song, not quite as sad as the first but every bit as haunting. His fingers were long and graceful against the keys. You were a bit hypnotized as you watched them dance along the keyboard. He had no idea how lovely he was. When he drew in a breath and started quietly singing along as he played, your mouth dropped open. You didn’t understand the language, but it didn’t matter. His voice was low as he sang, and the richness of it and the melody lent a very intimate atmosphere to the cavernous room. Your eyes welled with tears as he played the last few notes, and you quickly wiped at your eyes before he could catch you.

Or not quite, maybe. “Did you understand that?” He sounded shocked. Of course he hadn’t expected you to know the language. Or maybe he was just surprised at the fact that you were crying at him. You shook your head quickly and covered your face for a moment so you could try to get yourself more under control.

“It was just really pretty. And your voice...” Suddenly every single synonym you’d ever known for the word ‘beautiful’ flew from your head. You drew in a few long, slow breaths and forced yourself to lower your hands. Loki was still staring at you. “Loki. You are...everything.” Nope, your words hadn’t yet returned. Loki drew in a sharp breath. You turned away and stared at the keyboard, reaching up to touch not a key, but the wooden lip beneath. 

“It’s an old song. It’s a warrior singing for his beloved at home. He misses her, but he slaughters hundreds in order to survive so he can make it back to her. When he’s cut down in battle, those are his last words. She is his world. She is everything.” You looked up to meet his eyes. He was studying you carefully, likely trying to determine whether you were trying to trick him. “Are you quite sure Thor hasn’t been teaching you old Asgardian?”

“I promise.” It was scarcely a whisper. 

He reached up to touch your cheek gently with the tips of his fingers. You leaned into the touch before you could stop yourself, and then you couldn’t bring yourself to pull away. He traced what must have been the track of a tear before brushing his thumb gently along your lower lip. There was a language in his touch, but, just like with his song, you couldn’t understand.

He took pity on you then, or else he took courage, and leaned in to kiss you.


End file.
